The Ice in my Cola
by LornaAlice
Summary: Kim has always gone fairly unnoticed until one day, the most unlikely person gains a sudden interest in her. She doesn't understand why, but soon, the world as she knows it will turn out to be a lot stranger than she ever anticipated. Jared/Kim. Fluff!


A/N- I think Jared and Kim are great, they're one of my favourite twilight saga couples so I thought I'd write a fanfic based about them. I hope you like it! Please review after so I know If I should continue :)

Chapter 1

The Ice in my Cola

**Kims POV**

It was finally the period before lunch time. Thank god. All morning I'd been slaving over tedious work, most of the time having no idea what I was supposed to be doing. I needed a nice sit down... and maybe some nachos.

Geography was on the agenda at the moment, a dreadful subject mainly due to the teacher. Mr Bartlett. It was debated that he was getting onto seventy-three... I wouldn't be surprised. He had this amazing ability to take a topic that had the potential to be incredibly interesting and bending it into a kind of depression. The rumour was that his wife had left him for a lion trainer from Ethiopia and that was the cause of his distemper... far fetched yet quite plausible.

I trudged into the wearisome classroom feeling... well, wary. I really wasn't in the mood to concentrate and, knowing Mr B, he would most likely throw difficult questions at me when I was most unsuspecting... he was sneaky like that...

As I walked to the back of the class (I wasn't brave enough to sit up at the front and attempt to avoid

Mr B's spit-balls), a sudden thought occurred to me.

Maybe_ he_ would be here today...

The very reason for my existence, the sun in my sky, the ice in my cola....

_**Jared. **_

My stomach fluttered just thinking about him. I'd loved Jared since the first day I laid my big, too-far-apart eyes on him. My first ever day of high school. I don't know what it is about him... actually, no. I do. Its _everything_. From the very moment I got a glimpse of his laughing, angelic, perfect face, I knew I would die for this guy if need be. He was just so perfect! His smile lit up a gloomy classroom, as did his personality. He was outgoing, never held back. Kind of the opposite of me I guess you could say... Jared was always coming up with witty remarks, little sarcastic comments specifically designed to make people laugh. They always worked on me. Not that he ever _used_ them on me.

But of course, he was part of the "cool, popular" crowd. Unlike me. I wasn't _unpopular_, I had an alright handful of friends... but I kind of went unnoticed. It was like Jared was my own personal sun and I was his own personal background wall. People don't really care if they "accidentally" knock me over in the corridors, whereas if you ever did that Jared... well, you'd almost kill yourself for it... Literally, come to think of it. Jared was a big guy... If you knocked into him you might knock yourself out and smash your head on the floor or something...

I sighed as I took one of the only two available seats at the back. Geography was the only class I had with Jared and it was a long shot that he would be here today. He hadn't attended La Push High School for two and a half weeks. But I could hope, right? Apparently mono was the reason behind his absence... I heard you got that from kissing... who'd he been kissing, I wondered sadly, and why had they given it to Jared? I sat in silence (as usual) and waited for the bell to ring and Mr Bartlett to start spitting.

Although this was my only class with Jared, it was also my only class without any of my friends. That meant I tended to sit either by myself as I did today or next to this guy called Shylo (wierd name, I know). He was the "Goth" of La Push and had his waist length black hair permanently covering most of his face. We'd talked a few times and he actually seemed quite sweet... I like to think that he was put into the wrong body and is simply misunderstood.

Today though, he was already sat nearer the front of the class. I barely noted that Mr B had started talking in his monotonous voice because at that moment the door swung open viciously. It hit the wall loudly and the whole class jumped.

And who stood there... but_ Jared..._

My heart seemed to stop beating as I looked at him. But not because it_ was_ him...Because of how un-Jared he looked! I had to do a double take! His usually cheery, beautiful face looked hard, rough... _aggressive_. He walked, or more like marched, there wasn't really a way to describe it, into the classroom, glaring at everyone that looked at him (which _was_ everyone). He even glared at his friends! I saw them attempt to smile a greeting at him but failing miserably. I couldn't blame them, they were in shock just like me! He was so much taller as well! He was humongous, even bigger than he was before he left! He must have grown _inches_!

I looked nervously down at my battered text book as he soldiered up the row of desks. I didn't want him to think I was staring (though everyone else was). It probably wouldn't make much difference though, he'd never even glanced at me in his life. As I tried my best to focus on my book and get my heart rate back to normal, it suddenly occurred to me. The only seat left in the room was_ next to me..._

I didn't know how to feel about that really... If this were any other time I would have been ecstatic, but today... to be honest I was a little scared of him. He looked so angry! But also kind of... sad...? I tried not to stare at him as he sat down next to me. My heart rate quickened dramatically.

"Um... Right. Well-" Mr Bartlett stuttered over his words. He was clearly feeling the same as the rest of us. "Uh... Right. Class. Pens out and uh, copy this down..."

Balding Mr. B. turned his back to us and began writing messily on the board. His hand was quivering slightly... and actually, as I glanced (hopefully conspicuously) over in Jared's direction next to me, I realised that Jared's was to... only his was_ shaking_... a really aggravated shaking which seemed to roll up his arms to his shoulders.

This was really weird... This wasn't the Jared I loved! Where did _he_ go? But I mentally shook myself and pulled my pencil case out of my bag in search of a pen. This seemed to remind Jared and he did the same. As I began writing, trying my very hardest to keep my attention on what I was _supposed _to be doing, Jared swore angrily under his breath. It made several people closest to him jump.

His arms began to shake harder and he made a frustrated groaning noise, almost to quiet to hear. He ran a big hand through his hair stressfully and turned to me ever so slightly.

Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god! Was Jared about to talk to me?! This would be the first time (and probably last time) in history that he would... What if he said something mean to me? This new Jared seemed reasonably likely to do that... Deep breaths, Kim, Deep Breaths...

"Can I borrow pen?" He mumbled, not looking directly at me.

_AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!_ Jared, _the _Jared, just talked to me! The fan girl inside me screamed like a maniac... I couldn't help it!

I tried to keep my cool though. "Um-" _No, Kim! There's no need for that! Give him the god damn pen already!_ "Yeah. C-course..." _Stuttering?! Way to go._

I retrieved a pen from my pencil case with slightly shaky fingers. I held it out to him. Why did it have to be a yellow pen? He won't like yellow! I mentally scolded myself.

He reached out and took it, but accidentally brushed fingers with me and- _Jesus Christ! Holy crap! _He was boiling! It was like his hand was on fire! I looked it nervously but it looked completely normal. I couldn't help but look up at him and ask. "Are you _okay_?!Your hand is like-" ...But I broke off.

Huh. Um. Wow...

Jared was staring at me like... well, how would you _describe it? _It was like I was... _god_... This guy was getting stranger and stranger...

He just _stared_ at me.

And continued to stare.

And continued.

For a long, long time...

The embarrassing thing was though, so did I... His whole face had changed from the bitter mask he was wearing before. His eyes were filled with... _compassion_? I'd even go as far as to say _love_! I just stared into his beautiful face and I kind of... melted. Turned to mush. He was just so perfect and at that moment, I suddenly realised that I couldn't live without him... I felt safe sitting here with him next to me... like I would never be hurt if he was with me... These were the eyes I wanted to wake up to every morning, the eyes I wanted to look at everyday. These were the eyes I _loved_. Jeez this was weird, what had gotten into me?

Jared was the first to snap back into life. "Um..." He was searching for words. He looked completely dazed. I wouldn't know what to say either. What would be the first thing I would say to the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with...? Jared seemed to find it. "Hi."

I blushed. I couldn't help it. The way he said it... his voice seemed saturated in adoration. Jared's mouth turned up into a smile for the first time today and he chuckled, making me blush even more.

"Miss Connweller!" Yelled an angry Mr B. Damn, I'd forgotten about him. "Please be as kind to come up and label the layers of the earth for us as you seem to know them well enough to not look at the board but at other students!"

I'm pretty sure I turned scarlet as I reluctantly turned away from Jared. I stood up from my seat and walked around the desk. Well, walked was the more generous way of putting it. "Stumbled and clutched desk for support" would be more appropriate. There was a scatter of giggles throughout the classroom but Jared's reaction was not what I had been expecting. Nor anyone else for that matter.

"Oh my god! Kim, Kim! Are you okay?!" Jared was up from his seat and by my side in a flash. How did he do that so _quickly_? It was almost superhuman! His poor face looked truly terrified as he steadied me by holding onto my arm... god, his arm was scorching too... maybe he was still sick... that would explain a bit.

"Uh..." I didn't quite know what to say... Why did Jared care if I was okay...? He hadn't ever before. But it felt nice as he kept his hand firmly around my arm... it felt right... Again I had the safe feeling. "Y-yeah... I'm F-fine..." _Snap out of it Kim!_ I told myself as Jared released me (much to my disappointment).

I took a shaky breath and turned to the front of the class again, only to realise that everyone was staring from Jared to me with looks of shock. I glanced at Jared from the corner of my eye and he seemed totally unabashed. I was beginning to get quite confused.

When I reached the blackboard (Mr Bartlett refused to allow white boards and white board pens in his classroom), I nervously looked at the large diagram but then relaxed a little. I'd learnt this last year. I labelled the diagram confidently in a matter of seconds. That showed Mr B. He scowled as he mumbled for me to take my seat.

I obliged and walked relievedly back to where Jared was sitting. He was still looking at me with those same amazing eyes. He looked kinda... proud? What was there to be proud about? And why was he still looking at me like_ I_ was the ice in_ his _cola, not vice versa?

Mr Bartlett continued his angry lecturing but I couldn't pay attention. Neither it seemed could Jared.

He shifted his chair closer to me and whispered nervously; "Hey... I'm Jared." No duh.

Did he seriously think I didn't know his name? Everyone knew his name! And why did he feel the need to tell me anyway? He hadn't for the past however many years... Maybe this was like a little game that the new aggressive Jared was playing (though he didn't have his hard face on at the moment). Maybe him and his friends were playing a game called "get-kims-hopes-up-and-then-watch-her-crash-and-burn-when-we-reveal-it-was-all-just-a-joke". Hm. That would explain why he was talking to me. I couldn't seem to find any other reason. Maybe I should try and ignore him...

The hysteric fan girl inside of me got instantly panicked. _Ignore him?! What are you talking about, you lunatic?! Embrace it dumbass! Get what you can! _

"Um... K-kim." I answered. _Again with the stuttering. _

Jared grinned a wonderful grin that made my heart speed up to about ten times the pace. "Yeah... I know."

He knew? How did he know? He didn't know _anything_ about me! "How do you know?" I blurted out. I mentally grimaced. Now it seemed like I was interrogating him.

His face fell a little and he looked guilty, like a little boy caught in the act of taking to much chocolate off the Christmas tree. "It... says on your book." He admitted.

I looked down at my messy exercise book where, sure enough, I'd written KIM CONNWELLER in the top right corner. Huh. At least he was being honest I guess. "Oh".

"Yeah, but I mean, I knew who you were without looking at your book." He tried to explain. Not that he needed to. "I see you around school all the time and I mean La Push is tiny, everyone knows everyone so I did know who you-"

"Jared-" His face lit up like a torch when I said his name. "I don't mind." He smiled and just nodded. I wasn't giving him much to work with here. I decided to make conversation. If this _was_ just a game he and his friends were playing, I wanted to get as much out of it as possible.

"So... What have you been doing these last couple of weeks?" That was something I generally wanted to know the answer to. Maybe something hit his head and that was why he was looking at me like I was an angel.

His face darkened considerably and he looked away from me for probably the first time. He looked like he didn't want to tell me. God Kim, ruin it all! Why was I questioning him about his personal life. It wasn't my business He didn't owe me anything. I shouldn't pressure him. "Its okay," I added quickly. "You don't have to tell me anything." God, I was really bad at this.

"No... I-I want to tell you but-"

"Miss Connweller, Mr Reid!" Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that was his last name... Kimberly Reid, Kim Reid, Mrs Kim Reid. "Unless you want to share your nice little discussion with the class, I would suggest that you pay attention to the board and less at each other!"

I blushed as the whole class turned from Mr Bartlett to look at us, most likely wondering "_Why the hell is Jared talking to the plain girl?_" Yes, I was wondering the same thing. Jared, however, completely ignored the stares we were getting and just winked at me. Yes, _winked_ at _me_! My heart rate sped up even more.... I'd probably have a heart attack any moment. But at least I'd die sitting next to Jared Reid.

After a few seconds, the heads of my (or more like Jared's) peers, began swivelling to the front of the class again. I sighed in relief. I didn't like being in the spotlight... again, the opposite of Jared.

Beautiful Jared was opened his mouth to whisper something to me when Mr B shot him a deadly glare. I was surprised that Bartlett had the nerve to do that. If I were in his shoes, I'd be terrified to! Jared could probably kill him with a single blow.

Jared made a frustrated sound again but it wasn't as angry as last time. We sat in silence with the rest of the class for a few minutes, staring at the board. My mind was still on Jared of course, but I didn't think I could say the same for him. He seemed to be concentrating very hard.

A few seconds later he quietly ripped a piece of paper of a pad of refill and began scribbling with my banana-yellow pen.

And that was it. Our communication was over. I was still in shock that Jared had just been talking to me and he was now totally over it and taking notes off the board. I felt absolutely crushed. Why did he even bother? What was the point of all that stress he just put my heart under?

I sighed quietly to myself and stared down at my notes... but I was shocked at what I saw there. There was a piece of folded refill. I looked at Jared. He was looking at the board but he was smirking. He looked impressed with himself.

I looked back at the note in my hands and unfolded it.

_I'd love to tell you what I was doing in the past two weeks, I honestly would, but I'm afraid old Bartie would have a fit and I would be blamed for his sudden death. Though, I happen to know he has a secret stash of chips in the bottom draw of his desk so I could always blame it on his poor health... _

I giggled quietly and wondered if it was genuinely true about the chip stash. It was easy to believe. I checked that Mr B (or old Bartie, the new found nickname for him) wasn't looking to closely at me and wrote:

_Don't worry about it. Mr B is known for cramming down three mac and cheeses all at once. Everyone knows that and wouldn't think twice of blaming you._

I slid it nervously along our desk to him and he took it without looking at me, just smiling. He read it quickly and chuckled under his breath before taking out my pen again. When he slid it back along the desk I took it nervously. _I_ was passing notes with _Jared Reid_! _The_ Jared Reid! The guy who never looked twice at me but now felt the need to break class rules for me... he must have been_ real_ sick... 

_Thanks for the support, its much appreciated. Though, I have to say Old Bartie would have nothing on me in a Mac and Cheese contest. _

_As if! Mr B could eat a whole cow in one sitting if he wanted to._

_Yeah well I could easily eat two and have room to spare! Don't underestimated me Kim. I have a VERY hearty appetite. _

_If you say so. Bring on the cows... _

_I may just do that. So, on the topic of food, do you enjoy beef lasagne? I hear that's on the menu for lunch today. _

_Yep, I guess, lasagne's good. I'm not a fussy eater. _

_That's good. So you're not vegetarian or anything? Please don't be vegetarian. Please don't be vegetarian. .._

_And give up cheeseburgers?? No way. _

_That's the spirit! I love a girl who isn't afraid of a proper burger. _

And so, it continued on like this for a while (much to my shock though pleasure)... It was strange, I felt like I didn't have to change who I was to impress Jared. I didn't have to lie about liking cheeseburgers for example. He seemed impressed and happy with everything I said and it wasn't long before he started asking more personal things such as questions about my family. He looked genuinely interested though I couldn't imagine why. I told him had four brothers and sisters when he asked me. It didn't seem to surprise him. A lot of people in La Push had big families. He, I found out though, was an only child.

_Do you like being an only child? _I wrote. I hated having so many siblings a lot of the time. The lack privacy for example, was dreadful. But I couldn't imaging living without them either.

_I used to hate it but its kind of changed now... I have a couple of brothers but they're not technically related... Its complicated. I'll explain to you another time though. _

He'd left it at that. I supposed he thought of some as his close friends as brothers, but he had so many close friends at school that maybe he was talking about something else. I didn't pry any more though.

The bell ran several notes and pages of refill later. The class immediately bounded to their feet and began scurrying towards the door, all except for Jared and I. Mr Bartlett must have been extra bad today. I couldn't say I knew seeing as I hadn't paid attention to a word he'd said. I'd have to borrow notes from someone.

I grudgingly began putting my stuff back in my bag. For the first time in living history there was a student (moi) who wanted Mr B's lessons to go on for longer.

I saw Jared fold up all the messages and put them neatly in the front pocket of his bag. It was as if he didn't want to crease them to much.

"So, um, Kim?" Jared began cautiously once everyone was almost gone. "Do you... do you think I could sit with you at lunch today...?"

I looked at him in shock and he looked at me like his future happiness depended on my answer._ He_ wanted to sit with_ me_? What about all his friends? Why me over them? I was sure he wanted to talk to them after two weeks of unexplained absence.

He seemed to be growing more and more agitated by the second and his hands started doing that weird shaky thing again so I quickly answered. "Yeah. Um, of course. If you want to."

His face relaxed and he sighed a relieved sigh. "Cool. Awesome." He picked up his bag. "I'll meet you in the caff?"

I just nodded, completely dazed. He grinned and then left with alarming quickness out the room.

I stood there like a lemon for at least a minute before I reminded myself that I was supposed to leave. I shakily took my bag and headed out the room... not quite sure of what had just happened.

A/N- Please review if you think I should continue this story! I have a lot of ideas and just little fluff scenes that I'd like to do but I won't if no one really wants to read them. I hope you liked it.

Next Chapter will probably involve: Lunch! Meeting a couple of Kim's friends. And... Paul! Angry Paul...


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